Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
CEO, Sustainable Energy for All

Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which calls for access to reliable, affordable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Ms. Ogunbiyi is one of the Commissioners for the Global Commission to end energy poverty which is an initiative driven by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and The Rockefeller Foundation. She is the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council which was established ahead of COP26 to bring together leaders in the power sector across politics, finance and technology to speed up the transition from coal to clean renewable energy in developing countries. Post-COP26, it was agreed that the ETC will continue at least until COP30, guided by the strategic vision articulated in the Glasgow Power Breakthrough to make clean power the most affordable and reliable option for all countries to meet their power needs efficiently by 2030. She is also a member of the Development Advisory Council of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), member of the Clean Cooking Alliance advisory board and a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Oxford – Future of Cooling Programme, among others.

Prior to joining SEforALL, Ms. Ogunbiyi was the first woman to be Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency where she was responsible for successfully negotiating the Nigerian Electrification Project which is a USD 550 million facility (World Bank USD 350m and African Development Bank USD 200m) to rapidly construct solar mini-grids and deploy solar home systems across Nigeria to close energy access gaps.

Ms. Ogunbiyi’s previous public sector roles in Nigeria included Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power, Head of the Advisory Power Team in the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria, General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board, and Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Public Private Partnerships. Ms. Ogunbiyi also worked with the UK Department for International Development [now Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)] as a consultant on public-private partnerships.